Animal-tether for vehicles.



R. G. MILLER.

ANIMAL TETHER FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.9. 1915.

1,1 87,080. Patented June13, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

llllillllllllllll. i

WITNESSES: l INVENTOR 1 THE COLUMBIA P'LANOGRAPH ca, WASHINGTON, D- C.

R. G. MILLER.

ANIMAL TETHER FOR VEHICLES.

v APPLICATION FILED AUG.9. 1915.

Y 1,1 87,080. Patented June 13, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- UNITE srn'rns ATENT sermon. Q

RALPH Gr. MILLER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ANIMAL-TETHER FOR VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 13, 1916.

Application filed August 9, 1915. Serial No. 44,400.

1,128,568, issued to myself and E. C. Waterhouse, January 5th, 1915.. a

My present inventionis designed to ob-' viate the defective featuresdiscovered in the construction and operation of the arrangement of partsdisclosed in the aforesaid Letters Patent, and to afl'ord a simple,

cheap but substantial, and effective tethering device adapted forconvenient attachment;

to vehicles of various shapes and kinds, and fully meeting theconditions and requirements of general use, as hereinafter more fullyset forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, is a verticallongitudinalsection of a road wagon to which my improved tetheringmechanism is applied; Fig. 2, a view of the under side of the wagon;Fig. 3, an elevation upon a larger scale of the drum and clutchmechanism; Fig. 4, a central longitudinal sectional elevation of saiddrum and clutch mechanism; Fig. 5, a transverse sec tion upon a stilllarger scale taken upon plane of line 55, Fig. 3; Fig. 6, a detailshowing a form of clutch-controlling lever adapted for use in connectionwith my improved tethering device.

In said drawings B, represents, for con-' to any rigid part of thebottom I), of the vehicle body, preferably to the under side of atransverse rib or cleat '6, as shown in Figs. 1, and 2, the depth of thecleat b, affording suitable clearance for the rock shaft 7", the tethercord t, and other operative parts of the apparatus.

The tether drum D, and clutch C, are mounted upon and between pendentbrackets a, a preferably made integral with a common base a, secured tothe cleat b, or other fixed part of the vehicle,the clutch mechanism C,being of any desired or well known form and construction of parts. Thus,asshown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, of the drawings the slidable clutch member0, is held normally against the bracket bearing o by a spring 8,interposed between it and the other clutch member 0, said slidableclutchmember 0, consisting essentially of a sleeve mounted loosely insaid bracket bearing 44 into the outer extremity of which sleeve 0, asolid extension), of the flexible shaft 7, is inserted and rigidlysecured, as shown in Figs; 8, and 4. One end of the rotatable shaft 6,also protrudes into the sleeve 0, to be thus indirectly supported by theaforesaid bracket bearing a while the other extremity of said rotatableshaft 6, is supported in the bracket bearing a, being held thereonagainst longitudinalmovement by the collar 6, and the hub d, of the drumD, said collar and said hub d, being rigidly secured to the rotatableshaft 6, as clearly indicated in Figs. 3,and 4.

The intermediate or non-sliding clutch member 0, is mounted loosely onthe shaft 6, and is pressed against the drum D, by the spring 8, beforereferred to, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 4, particu-'larly. This non-slidable clutch member a, is formed with an annularseries of ratchet teeth 0, for engagement with a spring pawl 39,pivotally mounted upon an arm 03, rigid upon the tether drum D, asclearly shown in Fig. 5. The shifting of the position of the slidableclutch member 0, is effected by means of the rock arm r,'pivotallysuspended from the bracket base a, the lower part of said rock arm 1*,being-bi furcated and formed with inturned shoulders r 4 which protrudeinto the annular groove 0", in said slidableclutch member 0, as shownclearly in Fig. 4. This rocker 1", is rigidly secured to the inner endof the rock shaft 1', which extends longitudinally under thebottom Z2,of the vehicle vals by suitable bearings 6 The front end of this rocklever r, is provided with an actuating lever r adapted for manipulationmanually, a catch or retaining rack 1", or equivalent device beingprovided whereby the lever r, and consequently the rock shaft 1*, androcker arm 1", may be maintained in aprescribed position for the purposeof controlling the slidable clutch member 0. Asshown in the drawingstheelasticity and resilience of the manual lever 1, is relied upon tospring said lever in and out of engagement with the notches in theretaining rack r, but it is obvious that any other mechanical expedientmay be employed with like result. That is to say, I dolnot confinemyself to the use of this or any other special form or construction ofholding device 1, my invention in this respect contemplating the use inconnection with the rockshaft r, and the lever 1' by which it'iscontrolled,of any well known device or mechanical expedient for retainmgthe same 1n a prescrlbed position, while admittlng of manipulation 1nthev manner 7 set forth.

. The other or outer end P, of the flexible shaft f, is journaled in abearing d formed in the lower part of a suspender bracket 15, securedtothe rear wheel axle w, adjacent to the right hand side wheel in thedrawings, although this is not material, as either rear wheel may beutilized to rotate the flexible shaft f, as maybe found most expedient.A pinion f is mounted on the end 7, of. the flexible shaft, positionedbetween the bearing 2', and the wheel WV, and meshes with'a. gear wheelw, rigidly attached to the latter so that the pinion f 'fiexible shaft7", and slidable member 0, of

the clutch C, will rotate simultaneously and constantly with the saidrear wheel WV. The pitch of the wheel gear w, as related to that of thepinion f may be as six to one, or of any relative difference in rotativespeed that may be found most expedient,six to one being that shown inthe drawings and used herein by way of illustrating and describing theoperation of my improved tethering apparatus.

' It is to be noted in this connection that whereas in my prior patenthereinbefore referred to frictional engagement between contact-pulleysand the hubs of the rear Wheels is relied upon to actuate the tetherdrum, in the present case the connection between. the drive wheel W, andthe slidable {clutcha, is positive, thus. insuring instantane'ousresponse when .the'device is set for ;act1on, and obviatmg any danger ofslip or inefliciency by reason of the presence 1 of rain, dampness,grease or other extrane- 1 ousmatterbetween thecontacting surfaces ofhubs and pulleys,-.a serious practical ob- Under these conditions if theanimal starts forward the rotation of the vehicle wheel W, will causethe rotation of the pinion f flexible shaft f, and clutch C, in theopposite direction, aS indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1, 3, and 5,thereby causing the pawl p, by reason of its engagement with any one ofthe ratchet teeth 0", to rotate the tether drurnD, in the samedirection. The gear wheel w, being, say, six times the diameter of thepinion F, the tether drum D, will rotate six times for, each revolutionof the vehicle wheel TV, and as one or two revolutions of the drum willunder ordinary conditions be sufiicient to take up the slack of thetether cord t, it is obvious that the check on the draft animal will beeflectually initiated during the first revolution of the Wagon wheel W,and that any further revolution thereof in the same forward directionwill prevent further advance by the animal. Thus if the diameter of thetether drum D, is properly proportioned to that of the vehicle wheel V,it will readily be seen that the animal may be stopped with certaintybefore it has advanced, say, ten feet, and before any damage can result,whereas in my previous arrangement of contact pulleys, even if thelatter did not slip, the animal might travel several times that distancebefore being checked, because the contact pulleys rota-ted only once foreach revolution of the vehicle rear wheels. Furthermore in my'oldarrangement if after being checked the draft animal backed up for relieffrom tension, and continued to back up sufficiently, the drum would windthe tether cord up in the reverse direction, still further complica-tinga dangerous situation. This I obviate in my present arrangement andconstruction of parts by mounting the clutch member 0, loosely on theshaft 6, as before set forth, and arranging its ratchet teeth 0", sothat they positively engage the pawl 39, in one direction only, as shownclearly in Fig. -5. As a result, when the animal backs up, as soon asthe tension on'the tether cord relaxes the pawl 37, slips over theratchet C, and remain stationary to all intents and purposes, unlesstheanimal again starts forthe slidable clutch member is rotated.Furthermore, owing to its simplicity and com-' pactness of structure, myimproved tethering apparatus is readily and conveniently attachable tovehicles of any and all kinds, since the drum and clutch mechanismoccupies but little space and may be positioned centrally immediatelyadjacent to the vehicle body, thus admitting of direct alinement oftether cord, &c., obviating the need of compensating means, and leavingthe space between the vehicle body and the ground practicallyunobstructed. Hence, also, the appearance of the vehicle to which myimproved tethering attachment is applied is not materially altered ordisfigured.

In order to confine the tether cord t, properly to the periphery of thedrum D, I prefer to form the bracket base a, with a retaining web orflange a", as shown in Fig. 3.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. In an animal-tethering vehicle attachment of the characterdesignated, the combination of a tether cord drum and tether, clutchmechanism in axial alinement with said tether drum, means for making andbreaking operative connection between said clutch mechanism and saidtether drum, a pinion mounted in juxtaposition to one of the vehiclewheels, a flexible shaft connecting said clutch mechanism with saidpinion, and a cog wheel rigidly attached to said vehicle wheel andmeshing with said pinion, for the purpose described.

2. In an animal-tethering vehicle attachment of the characterdesignated, the combination of a tether cord drum and tether, said drumbeing provided with a spring pawl, clutch mechanism in axial alinementwith said tether drum, the member of said clutch mechanism next to saiddrum being mounted loosely and being formed with an annular series ofratchet teeth adapted to positively engage in one direction with saidspring pawl on the tether drum, means for moving the other, slidablemember of the clutch mechanism into and out of engage ment with saidratchet-toothed member, a pinion mounted in juxtaposition to one of thewheels of the vehicle, a flexible shaft connecting said slidable memberof the clutch member with said pinion, and a cog wheel rigidly attachedto said vehicle wheel and meshing with said pinion, for the purposedescribed.

3. In an animal-tethering vehicle attachment of the characterdesignated, the combination of a tether cord drum and tether, clutchmechanism in axial alinement with said tether drum, lockable means formaking and breaking operative connection between said clutch mechanismand said tether drum, a pinion mounted in juxtaposition to one of thevehicle wheels, a flexible shaft connecting said clutch mechanism withsaid pinion, and a cog wheel rigidly attached to said vehicle wheel andmeshing with said pinion.

RALPH G. MILLER.

Witnesses MORRIS LEPACI-IMAN,

G120. WM. MIATT.

Copies of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe "Commissioner 0! Patents Washington, D. 0.

